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Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
Te Papa researchers: Heidi Meudt, Lizzie Bisley, and Rebecca Rice; summer research interns: Lucia Adams, Annie Barnard, Margo Montes de Oca, and Amy Holtman
Nancy Adams (1926-2007) was one of Aotearoa’s most notable botanists and a talented artist who worked at the Museum from 1959 until 1987.
As well as being one of Te Papa’s most prolific botany collectors, she drew and painted an incredible number of botanical illustrations, wrote and published books, and contributed to curatorial activities, including the development of the Museum’s gardens and the colonial galleries.
In 2007, her archive of drawings was acquired by the museum, complementing the botanical collections already held in the herbarium. This cross-disciplinary research seeks to better understand and document the relationships between Adams’ drawings, paintings, specimens, and publications, along with her work across the museum. Her rich archive offers a unique opportunity to research the life and work of a modern working woman, and to consider her contributions to art, science, and museology.
Funding: Deane Endowment Trust
Nancy Adams (1926–2007) was one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most notable botanists and a talented artist. One of Te Papa’s most prolific botany collectors of all time, she also painted and drew an incredible number of botanical illustrations. She used her artwork to produce important books about Aotearoa New Zealand’s flora, including seaweeds, flowers, trees, and alpine plants.
As part of a summer research project, Lucia Adams and Annie Barnard have been working with Te Papa’s collection of Nancy Adams’ works, digitising botanical specimens, enriching catalogue records, and writing about her work and influence. They are taking a series of field trips to sites that were important in Nancy’s life and work. Here is the first in a series of blogs documenting these trips.
She collected 3,321 botanical specimens for the Te Papa herbarium, and identified a staggering 6,874 additional specimens in the collection. Te Papa also holds a vast collection of paintings and drawings by Nancy Adams, as well as field notebooks, photographs, and other archival material. Explore Nancy Adams’ entire catalogue on Collections Online.
